Combined binder and markes por hats



S. G. LEITCH. COMBINED BINDER AND MARKER FOR HATS. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 11, 1909.

1,09 ,044, Patented'Maj 26, 1914.

UNITED srarns PATENT canton SAMUEL G. LEI'ICH. OF SOMERVILL-E, MASSACHUSETTS.

COMBINED BINDER AND MARKER FOR HATS.

Specification of- Letters Patent.

Application filed June 11, 19.09.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL Gr. Lnrron, a citizen of the United States, residing at Somerville, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in a Combined Binder and Marker for Hats, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in hats; having especially to do with the inner hat band, the binder therefor and size marks and other marks thereon.

More particularly it comprises a simplification of the manufacture of mens hats, by which the fastening for the inside band, the size mark anda sign or trade mark to designate the manufacturer may be prepared together and put in place in one operation, thus reducing the expense for material and labor and improving the finish.

In hats as heretofore made it has been customary to fasten together the ends of the inside band by a piece of cloth sewed or gummed thereto on the under or back side out of sight, and the size of the hat has been indicated by a Wafer of paper with the size printed thereon pasted on the face of the band or sewed into some nearby part of the hat. The putting of this size mark in place requires a separate operation in the manufacture of hats, requiring the constant time of an operative whose duty it is to insert these wafers and involving incidental handling and delay of output of product in bringing hats to him and keeping a supply at hand; and also involves the cost of the manufacture, printing and preparation of these wafers. By the improvement herein described this operation is eliminated, the printing of wafers is dispensed with, and an improvement is effected in the appearance of the product as well as certain new results obtained due to the permanence of the device g a circle, while in Fig. 4 it is a star.

which takes the place of the wafer, which wafers have hitherto been but temporary, being usually scratched ofi when the hat is worn.- The improvement may also, if de sired, take the place of the manufacturers mark, which is customarily inserted in the crown of the hat, thus eliminating still another operation.

The invention is carried out in the manner described in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings for illustration of portions of the proc ess and improvement.

Patented May 26, 1914.

Serial No. 501,472.

Tn the drawings: Figure 1 represents a strip of material at one stage of the process; Fig. 2 represents a piece which has been severed from the strip of Fig. 1, being a later step 1n the process; Fig. 3 represents a still later step in which the piece seen in Fig. 2 has been applied to a hat; and Fig. 4 represents a difierent shape which may be employed instead of that shown in Fig. 2.

The results outlined above are attained as follows :A sheet of Holland cloth or other suitable material is prepared with one surface gummed so that it becomes adhesive when moistened. This sheet, which may be in the form of a roll of cloth a number of yards long, is then to be slitted. into strips like that represented by the reference numeral 10 in the drawing, having a width substantially equal to the desired length of the finished combined binder and marker 11 (Figs. 2, i) hereinafter to be described, which unites in itself the functions of a binder, a size mark and, if desired, a trade mark or other symbol designating the manufacturer. This strip is then submitted to the act-ion of a die, and means is provided either by hand, o-r-preferably by any suit-- able mechanical contrivance, to feed the strip forward step by step so that all parts of it come successively under the action of the die. The die may be made in any ordinary or suitable way so that one portion thereof is shaped to cut off a section of the strip which is to become the combined binder and marker and the other portion is shaped to perforate the strip in a particular place as at 12. The shape used for purposes of illustration in this specification is seen in Fig. 2;

5 and in Fig. l where the form to be out 01f from the strip is shown in dotted lines.

This is an oblong body combined with a tab end 13 which may have some peculiar or distinctive shape. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 it is The lperforat-ion also comprises a distinctive shape being in this case a character in the form of a figure 7, which, when the hat is completed, signifies size 7. The die may be imagined as striking repeatedly in a definite position. while the strip illustrated in Fig. 1. is fed to it step by step. One single stroke would cut on the dotted lines shown in Fig. 1. The perforation is made a certain distance from the end of the strip, and the end portion of the strip is at the same instant severed and the severed portion shaped as a Li indicated. This severed portion contains a perforation made at the last preceding stroke of the die. At the next step forward of the strip the portion perforated at. the dotted position 12 will occupy the place at the end of the strip where the perforation is shown in full lines and will be found in the form of the combined binder and marker 11 when severed. The combined binder and marker is next assembled in a hat as has heretofore been customary with binders, its oblong portion uniting the two ends of the inner hat band or sweat band 15 of the hat 16 at the seam 17, as plainly shown in Fig. 3. The

oblong part of the die-cut piece is therefore concealed from view, being in the inner side of the band, as heretofore. The remainin portion 13 which is integrally connected therewith projects and displays its distinctive shape. The size mark and any other mark which may have been made upon it by perforation is seen against the inside of the hat, the color of which shows through the perforation. making the mark easily read.

Thus the trade mark, the size mark and the binder are all cut in complete form ready for application at a single operation. Being integral with the binder, the marks are securely and permanently fixed to the hat. The material in which these marks appear, being the same as the binder, will ordinarily have the same color as the binder; but any other color characteristic may be imparted to the mark portion of the device by the following simple means, viz., b feeding an auxiliary strip of paper 18, s ightly moistened, upon the edge of the strip of binding material in advance of the oint where the die is to operate; this strip of paper being wide enough to cover that portion of the device marked 13. This paper may be blue,'golden or any other color desired, for contrast or to give a distinctive aspect; and in addition to affording a contrast with the material of the hat which shows through the perforation, it also serves the purpose of covering the gum and remov: ing the adhesive character of the exposed surface of the projecting part of the device. While the method has been described with the use of gummed material, it being generally less expensive to gum the material in the full width of the original piece of cloth, it is obvious that the gum might be applied at some other stage in the process, or that the strip of paper added, when such is used, might be gummed.

In commercial operation any suitable material may be used and the marks perforated thereon may be made to read from any direction as preferred by the manufacturer quite as muchas separate wafers can be; and it will be observed that when the process is in operation, the manufacture of the binder, the size mark and the trade mark and the aifixing of them to the hat are all accomplished with no more labor than has hitherto been re uired for making and plat-- ing the binder a one.

I claim 1. As a new article of manufacture, a combined binder and marker for hats comprising a narrow strip of flexible fabric having a gummed face, length sufficient to cross a sweatband and to project visibly from the edge thereof, and width sufficient to adhere intimately to the adjacent ends of such a band, forming a binder uniting them; said visibly projecting portion having a design cut therethrou 11 so that a mark is formed by the contrast Tuetween the out line of its face and the material of the hat visible through it; said projecting portion being integral with the portion adhering to the band whereby the entire binder and mark may be formed by a single cutting operation.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a combined binder and marker for hats comprising a strip of gummed fabric havin a length sufficient to cross a sweatband am? to project from the edge thereof, and width sufiicientto adhere intimately to the adjacent ends of such a band, forming a binder uniting them; said projecting portion being integral with the portion adhering to the band, whereby the entire binder and pro jecting portion may be formed by a single cutting operation, combined with a facing adhering to and covering the gum on the projecting portion; a design being cut through said facing, thereby forming a mark b contrast between its face and what is visib e through said out design.

Signed by me at Cleveland Ohio this 8th day of June, 1909.

SAMUEL G. LEITCH.

Witnesses:

L. J. KonN, J. SYLVFRTER KOHN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, 1). G. 

